Entertainment & Entrepreneurship

I have been a fan of the Palm for many years, and like many I miss my Treo. It worked. The contacts were always available, the web applications were nicely integrated, and I actually prefer a stylus to buttons or my fingers. (More specifically, I prefer a stylus whenever my children borrow my phone and rub chocolate, peanut butter or mud over the screen.)

So I am hoping that the new Palm Pre breathes new life into Palm. 
According to the New York Times, "Palm reported smartphone revenue for the quarter ending Feb. 28 declined to $77.5 million, from $171 million the preceding quarter. Its net loss of $94.7 million was its seventh consecutive quarterly loss."

Will the Pre be enough to return Palm to a meaningful contender dominated by Apple's iPhone and Rim's Blackberry? No. Sorry.

But as the Washington Post described Sprint as continuing to "hemorrhage subscribers who have flocked to rival wireless carriers."

The iPhone significantly benefited AT&T but unless the Pre is a miracle, the third entrant into the modern smartphone battle will be unlikely to convince consumers to switch to a carrier that is dying on the vine. Instead, the carrier may be the most important consideration regarding the choice of smartphones. So long as Palm stays with its exclusive relationship with Sprint, the potential market will be quite limited.

Making the WebOS interface better than iPhone or Blackberry will be a challenge, particularly since Apple will be launching its third generation software around the same time as Palm finally gets its products to market. Palm also promises additional products built on the WebOS, but none of these have been demonstrated yet.

I really hope Palm finds a strategy to succeed. But a good strategy requires understanding the customer needs, not just building a better product. Poor alliances make for very poor launches. 

Perhaps it isn't too late? Here's hoping.